.\" Copyright (c) 1989, 1990, 1993
.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff%
.\" @(#)mtree.8 8.2 (Berkeley) %G%
.Nd map a directory hierarchy
compares the file hierarchy rooted in the current directory against a
specification read from the standard input.
Messages are written to the standard output for any files whose
characteristics do not match the specifications, or which are
missing from either the file hierarchy or the specification.
The options are as follows:
Print a specification for the file hierarchy to the standard output.
Ignore everything except directory type files.
Don't complain about files that are in the file hierarchy, but not in the
Read the specification from
instead of from the standard input.
Add the specified (whitespace or comma separated) keywords to the current
Use the ``type'' keyword plus the specified (whitespace or comma separated)
keywords instead of the current set of keywords.
Use the file hierarchy rooted in
instead of the current directory.
Remove any files in the file hierarchy that are not described in the
Display a single checksum to the standard error output that represents all
of the files for which the keyword
The checksum is seeded with the specified value.
Modify the owner, group, and permissions of existing files to match
the specification and create any missing directories.
User, group, and permissions must all be specified for missing directories
Don't descend below mount points in the file hierarchy.
Specifications are mostly composed of ``keywords'', i.e. strings that
that specify values relating to files.
No keywords have default values, and if a keyword has no value set, no
checks based on it are performed.
Currently supported keywords are as follows:
The checksum of the file using the default algorithm specified by
Ignore any file hierarchy below this file.
The file group as a numeric value.
The file group as a symbolic name.
The current file's permissions as a numeric (octal) or symbolic
The number of hard links the file is expected to have.
The file owner as a numeric value.
The file group as a symbolic name.
The size, in bytes, of the file.
The file the symbolic link is expected to reference.
The last modification time of the file.
The type of the file; may be set to any one of the following:
.Bl -tag -width Cm -compact
The default set of keywords are
There are four types of lines in a specification.
The first type of line sets a global value for a keyword, and consists of
the string ``/set'' followed by whitespace, followed by sets of keyword/value
pairs, separated by whitespace.
Keyword/value pairs consist of a keyword, followed by an equals sign
(``=''), followed by a value, without whitespace characters.
Once a keyword has been set, its value remains unchanged until either
The second type of line unsets keywords and consists of the string
``/unset'', followed by whitespace, followed by one or more keywords,
The third type of line is a file specification and consists of a file
name, followed by whitespace, followed by zero or more whitespace
separated keyword/value pairs.
The file name may be preceded by whitespace characters.
The file name may contain any of the standard file name matching
characters (``['', ``]'', ``?'' or ``*''), in which case files
in the hierarchy will be associated with the first pattern that
Each of the keyword/value pairs consist of a keyword, followed by an
equals sign (``=''), followed by the keyword's value, without
These values override, without changing, the global value of the
Specifying a directory will cause subsequent files to be searched
for in that directory hierarchy.
Which brings us to the last type of line in a specification: a line
containing only the string
causes the current directory
path to ascend one level.
Empty lines and lines whose first non-whitespace character is a hash
mark (``#'') are ignored.
utility exits with a status of 0 on success, 1 if any error occurred,
and 2 if the file hierarchy did not match the specification.
To detect system binaries that have been ``trojan horsed'', it is recommended
be run on the file systems, and a copy of the results stored on a different
machine, or, at least, in encrypted form.
option should not be an obvious value and the final checksum should not be
stored on-line under any circumstances!
should be run against the on-line specifications and the final checksum
compared with the previous value.
While it is possible for the bad guys to change the on-line specifications
to conform to their modified binaries, it shouldn't be possible for them
to make it produce the same final checksum value.
If the final checksum value changes, the off-line copies of the specification
can be used to detect which of the binaries have actually been modified.
options can be used in combination to create directory hierarchies
for distributions and other such things.
.Bl -tag -width /etc/mtree -compact
system specification directory